Monsanto protests

People around the world protested Monsanto last weekend, even here in laid-back Los Angeles. You can read about the LA protests here.

What interests me is that most people don't know they're eating genetically-modified foods. Tofutti, Boca Burgers and Kashi were three companies singled out by protesters in Chicago. Read about it here.

Last November a proposition was on the ballot in California to require packaged foods to indicate if they contained gmos. Needless to say, a huge Monsanto marketing push helped the proposition fail.

But honestly, it had to fail. If you are eating packaged food in North America, you are eating gmos. Wheat, corn and soy are always genetically modified unless they specifically say organic or non-gmo. Plus, have you read a label recently that does not include the words "natural flavors?" These can be  gmo. They can even be animal by-products from an animal fed gmo corn. Along with corn syrup, natural flavors are the hardest ingredients to avoid in packaged foods.

Can you imagine if all the foods you normally put in your shopping cart at Whole Foods or the local grocery store suddenly were labeled "contains gmo ingredients"? Consumers would freak out. Maybe that would be a good thing, but not for the grocery store managers who would be fielding all the complaints.

The only way to avoid gmos is to eat non-processed organic food. Like the foods I write about on this blog. The more processing involved in the food you eat, the more likely it is to contain organisms you might want to avoid.

Easy Summer Suppers

This is a beautiful time of year in Southern California. Birds, butterflies, flowers - I come home from work and head out into the garden to enjoy it. And then I don't feel like coming in to cook dinner. I don't want to be cooped up in the kitchen when I can be sitting out in the cool evening air, enjoying the fragrance of the flowers, the rising moon and the birds having a last bath at dusk.

So we had a week of not eating dinner.

But that's not a good long-term nutritional plan. So I turned my mind to easy dishes that last a few days in the fridge and just need to be scooped onto a plate when it's time to eat. This has been a much better week of eating.

I planned the cold meals the same way I do our regular dinners - a bean, a grain and some vegetables. When we're ready to eat, we pull the containers from the fridge, scoop what we want on our plates, grab a fork, and head out onto the patio.

This marinated tofu lasts well in the fridge, is good eaten cold, and also can be grilled if you're feeling ambitious.

Marinated tofu

1 block firm organic tofu

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp tamari

Rinse the tofu and dry it. Cut into 1/2 inch slices and pat them dry.

Warm the oil and tamari in a skillet. Add the tofu (if it's wet the hot oil will splatter) and let cook 5-8 minutes until colored. It might go a little crisp, but that's not necessary. Flip and cook on the other side.

You can eat the slices warm, or refrigerate them to eat cold later. They're good grilled in a sandwich, diced and added to a grain dish, or eaten cold as part of a salad dinner.

Beets

I haven't posted much this month because I'm slightly burned out on writing. I just finished a major redesign on my website (you can see it here www.joycarroll.net) which I'm really happy with but it took a lot out of me (20 years of work are reflected on it).

While I was immersed in the website, I had little attention for anything else besides my practice.

Fortunately, my vegetable garden requires little of me beside watering, and I managed to keep up on that.

So when I came home from work Thursday night, I was able to head out to the garden and pick a couple of beets for dinner.

I grew these beets from seed, which impresses me. Most seeds I plant never show up.

We ate the beets less than 2 hours after I picked them, and Larry commented on how tender they were. This is a guy who used to avoid beets before he met me. He has since learned to enjoy them in small amounts, but he has never before called them tender. There is nothing like homegrown food!

I cut the leaves from the roots and cooked them separately. The roots were scrubbed and put in a covered casserole in the toaster oven at 375°F for about 45 minutes until they were tender. I then peeled them and we ate them with butter and salt and pepper. Yum.

The leaves I washed, cut off the long stems, and combined with turnips greens and radish greens from the farmers market. I sautéed some onion in olive oil, threw in the washed and chopped greens, stirred in salt and pepper, put the lid on, and let it cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the greens were wilted and delicious.

I had found some lentil loaf in the freezer the night before, and defrosted it overnight in the fridge. I shaped it into burgers and fried it in a little olive oil. Along with some mashed potatoes and the beets and greens, it made for excellent and healthy comfort food.

Why avoid gmos

I haven't written much about genetically-modified organisms because they just make me mad.

But driving home yesterday I heard an excellent interview on Ian Masters's show (kpfk pacifica radio) about the side effects of gmos as discovered through animal research, and how these studies are systematically suppressed.

My favorite line came in reference to last year's failed campaign to require labeling of gmo foods in California.

Monsanto and other agribusiness campaigned heavily to not require gmo labeling. Yet if gmos were really good for us, then companies would be rushing to label their food "contains gmos" and would see an upsurge in consumer purchasing. After all, it's worked in the organic marketplace. All sorts of companies are using organic ingredients so they can get that all-important "Organic" on their label and boost sales. Somehow, despite huge advertising blitzes, agribusiness has not been able to convince consumers that eating gmos is a good thing. So they have to hide their franken-ingredients instead of promote them.

(The sad thing, of course, is that they're hiding them in everything. If you eat non-organic wheat, corn, soy, or corn syrup - you're eating gmos. And natural flavorings can be genetically modified - and can contain animal parts. If you're eating restaurant or packaged food in America, you're eating gmos.)

You can listen to the podcast of the interview by clicking here or by going to ianmasters.com and scrolling to the April 10, 2013 show - it's the 3rd segment that is on gmos.

Stir-fried Asparagus

My favorite way to eat asparagus is for breakfast - steamed with a fried egg on top. (See a picture here.)

Roasted or grilled is also excellent. (See a recipe here.)

But for an easy side dish, stir-frying is the way to go.

Choose slender asparagus for this dish. It will be tender-crisp and yummy.

Stir-fried Asparagus

1 1/2 cups asparagus, cut in 1 inch pieces

1-2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp grated ginger root

1 clove garlic

sprinkle of hot chili flakes

Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add asparagus, ginger root, garlic and a sprinkle of hot chili flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes until the asparagus is tender but still a little crisp.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3 

Cabbage and Watercress Slaw

Leftover beans and rice are a common dinner around here - I just warm them in the oven and dinner is on.

Of course, a crunchy side dish is essential to balance the soft textures of the beans and rice. The other day this cabbage and watercress slaw fit the bill.

It's adapted from a recipe I learned years ago in a macrobiotic cooking class in Montreal. The original recipe called for grated daikon - a large white radish. I can't find it organically grown at the farmers market so I use bottled horseradish instead.

If you don't have white miso, leave it out and add a little extra salt. The miso is a good addition, though. It has the umami of fermented soybeans and the B12 that is so essential to the vegetarian diet.

The cabbage is salted to draw out excess water so it doesn't make the dressing runny. But if you have a fresh young cabbage and you're going to eat the slaw right away, you can skip this step.

Cabbage and Watercress Slaw

3 cups finely chopped cabbage

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup watercress, without the thick stems

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tsp white (shiro) miso

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp horseradish

Mix cabbage with salt, let it sit 30 minutes, then rinse off the salt and squeeze excess water from the cabbage.

Wash the watercress. Combine with the cabbage.

Whisk together the lemon juice and miso. When miso is dissolved, whisk in the olive oil and horseradish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. It should be well-flavored, but not too tangy.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables. Toss and serve.

Serves 2-3

Butternut Squash Pie

Tracie came up for lunch the other day, and I served this excellent roasted squash free-form pie.

Roasted squash, feta and fresh rosemary combine with caramelized onions to make a filling that is hard to stop eating.

It's a little more work than most recipes I share on this blog, but it can be done in stages, and it's worth it. Leftovers are good the next day, warm or at room temperature.

I served it with tangerine watercress salad and garlicky-kohlrabi roots and greens. A decadent flourless chocolate cake rounded out the meal.

Use your favorite pie crust recipe. I replaced half the flour with whole wheat to give a nuttiness that went well with the sweetness of the roasted squash and onions. The whole wheat flour required extra water in the pie crust, and it was a little messy, but it's a free-form pie so rustic is good.

(I made the crust the day before, refrigerated it overnight, and brought it to room temperature before rolling out.)

Butternut Squash Pie
1 1/2 lbs butternut squash
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
5 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 oz feta in 1/2 inch dice
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
pastry for 2-crust pie
1 egg beaten with a little water

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Peel and seed the squash. Cut in 3/4-inch pieces. Place on a baking sheet with the garlic cloves. Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and bake 25-30 minutes until tender. Let cool.

Sauté the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat about 10 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar and cook another 15-20 minutes until onion is caramelized. Remove from heat and add to squash. Let cool.

Stir the feta and rosemary into the squash. Squeeze the garlic from its skins and add to the squash too. Season with salt and pepper.

Roll out the pie crust to a 14-inch circle. I did this on a sil-pat which I then put on a cookie sheet to bake in the oven. Baking parchment would work as well.

Pile the squash mixture on the pie crust, leaving a couple of inches around the edges. Fold the edges over the filling, pleating roughly as you go. Brush the crust with the egg wash to make it a golden brown color.

Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes until crisp and golden.

Serves 6

Potatoes and Cabbage

I found organic russet potatoes at the Hollywood Farmers Market Sunday, and they became the centerpiece of our St. Patrick's Day dinner. With steamed carrots and fresh peas from the garden, it was a festive springtime meal.

Potatoes get a bad rap. If you skip the oozing butter and sour cream, potatoes are actually health food.

They are low-calorie and high-fiber, a combination that makes them excellent protection against heart disease and cancers. They contain phyto-nutrients that lower blood pressure, and a wide array of antioxidants. This recipe combines them with cancer-fighting, colon healing cabbage for an incredibly healthy meal.

But you don't have to tell your family that. Just let them enjoy the meal.

Twice-Baked Potatoes with Cabbage
5 large russet (baking) potatoes
1 tbsp oil
4 cups chopped cabbage (3/4 small head)
1 leek, chopped
1/4 cup water or vegetable stock
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tbsp melted butter
paprika

Scrub potatoes and pat them dry. Pierce several times with a fork. Bake at 425°F until fork tender, about 1 hour.

Warm oil in skillet and sauté cabbage and leek until they begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add stock or water, cover and steam until cabbage turns bright green and tender, about 10 minutes. Season with 1/2 tsp salt.

Cut a horizontal slice off the top third of the potatoes. Scoop pulp from potatoes into bowl, leaving a 1/4 inch shell in 4 of the bottoms. Scoop pulp from the tops of the potatoes too.  Discard all the peels but the 4 bottoms. Mash or put the flesh through a ricer. Stir in warm milk. Add cooked cabbage. Season with salt and pepper.

Pile the mashed potatoes mixture into the 4 shells, dividing evenly. Brush the tops with melted butter, then sprinkle with a little paprika. Put back in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the tops are lightly browned.

Serves 4.

(Leftovers reheat well.)

Pain de Campagne Poilane

Last week I experimented with another recipe in Bernard Clayton Jr's book The Breads of France.

It's a country bread made by one of the famous French bakers of the '50s, Pierre Poilane.

The recipe makes one very large loaf, or four 1-lb loaves. I opted for 4 loaves - three baguettes and one round loaf.

This is the third recipe I've tried from the book, and it was the most difficult. I'm not sure I added enough flour - the dough was very soft. And I'm not sure I cooked the loaves long enough - they were a little dense in the center.

However, we thoroughly enjoyed the baguette we ate with the bean stew on Sunday night.

I think it will take some practice to get the feel for this bread dough. Fortunately, even the not-so-perfect experiments taste good.

Cardoons

We bought cardoons at the Hollywood Farmers' Market on Sunday. These are the leaves of giant thistle-like plants. I've never eaten them before, but they are supposed to look like celery and taste like artichokes.

I carried home a huge bunch to try in an Alice Waters recipe for cardoon and cannellini bean stew.

Cardoons can be bitter, stringy and thorny. Needless to say, Larry was a little dubious. But what is life if not an adventure?

I started by removing the leaves and thorns, cutting off the dried-out ends of the stems, and then cutting the remaining stems into 4-inch pieces. Alice Waters then said to braise them in a cup of water and a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tsp salt 35-40 minutes until tender. That's when it all went down hill. By the time they were tender, the flesh had mostly dissolved. When I tried to pull off the tough strings (like those in celery), I was left with mush.

Into the compost they went.

I am happy to report the bean stew was excellent without them. Here's the recipe, adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables. If you have good cardoons, cook them as above, cut into 1/2 inch slices, and add to the stew at the end.

Bean Stew without Cardoons
1 cup dried Christmas lima or cannellini beans
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup roasted vegetable stock

Cook beans in water to cover until tender, about 2 hours depending on the age of the beans. Drain, saving 2 cups cooking liquid.

Fry onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add to beans along with vegetable stock and enough cooking liquid to almost cover the beans. Simmer until warmed through.

Serves 4-6.

Still-life for breakfast

We eat bowls of fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. Is there a more beautiful way to start the day?

Braised Turnips

When I want to add a twist to a winter meal of lentils and potatoes, I braise some turnips to serve along side.

Turnips add the taste of a winter stew, yet cook quickly enough to be an easy addition.

First peel the turnips and dice in one-inch pieces. (Save the greens, if any, for another use.)

Melt some butter in a skillet. Toss the turnips in the skillet until coated with butter. Add water to the depth of about 1/4 inch. Cover the pan and cook about 10 minutes until the turnips are cooked and the water is evaporated. Listen to the sizzle - it will tell you when the water is almost gone and the butter is about to burn.

Serve warm as a simple vegetable side dish that will enhance any hearty meal.

Lentils with Garlic and Tomatoes

Lentils make a nice change from beans. They cook more quickly and have a delightful texture. I made this lentil stew the other day and served it with steamed greens, braised turnips, and roasted squash.

Lentils, like all legumes, help lower cholesterol and are full of beneficial fibers.

This recipe comes from A Taste of Africa by Tebereh Inquai.

I plundered my freezer for garden tomatoes I'd frozen last summer (see how I did it here), and also the serrano peppers I'd frozen in the same way. Canned chiles and tomatoes could be used instead.

Lentils with Garlic and Tomatoes
2 tbsp cold-pressed organic canola oil
6 cloves finely-chopped garlic
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup brown lentils
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 fresh green chiles, seeded and diced
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cups boiling water

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan and gently fry garlic until slightly brown. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in brown lentils and cook until almost dry. Add salt, pepper, ginger, chilis and lemon juice. Then stir in boiling water. Cover and simmer gently 45 minutes to 1 hour until the lentils are tender. Serve with brown rice.

Serves 4.

Roast squash

I love all the little squash that appear at the Hollywood Farmers Market in fall and winter. I work hard not to carry home armfuls of them each week. There are so many varieties to enjoy.

I used to just wash them and throw them in a 350 degree oven until they were soft. Then they are easy to cut and seed and serve as a side with a bean stew.

But now I have an even better way to cook them. It requires cutting them when they're raw, which is a little hazardous, but use a big sharp knife and keep your fingers out of the way. Then brush the wedges with olive oil, toss them in aromatic spices, and roast until tender. Wow.

Roast squash
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 tsp chili flakes
1/8 tsp salt
1 small winter squash

Warm the oil in a small frypan. Add the cumin and chili and let heat until fragrant. Add the salt, stir well and remove from the heat to infuse a little.

Wash the squash with dish soap and water. (You do use environmentally-friendly coconut-based dish soap, right? If not, use a veggie wash. The peel might end up so delicious you want to eat it.)

Cut the squash in half, then into wedges a couple of inches wide. Scrape the seeds and membranes off each piece.

Rub the cut edges of each wedge in the oil and spices and then place on a lightly oiled rimmed cookie sheet. Pour the remaining oil and spices over the squash.

Bake at 375°F about 30 minutes until tender.

Serves 2.

(This same method is also great with cauliflower - cut it into 2" florets, toss in the spiced oil, and cook in the same way.)

Pain aux Noix

Here's another of my occasional posts on baking my way through Bernard Clayton, Jr.'s excellent book, The Breads of France and How to Make Them in Your Own Kitchen (Bobbs Merrill 1978).

I'm not going to share the recipe with you - this is not a baking blog - but if you like to bake, I recommend you track this book down and give the recipes a try.

These are Pain aux Noix - and they came out looking just like the picture in the book!

They are made with whole wheat flour, additional bran, and a half pound of walnuts in the three one-pound loaves.

They are dense and delicious, full of nutty whole-wheat flavor. They make great cheesey toast, and cheese sandwiches.

I think I have to go eat a slice now.

P.S. I used this bread to make cheese sandwiches to take on the plane when visiting my mother in Montreal. The sandwiches were great, but we didn't need to eat them all. The next day I put the remains of a sandwich on my mother's snowy verandah railing for the birds. This squirrel found it, devoured it, and spent the next day waiting hopefully for us to hand out more sandwiches. (This bread has a lot of walnuts!)

Sweet Potatoes with Kaffir Lime Leaves

Living in Southern California, it's hard to restrain myself when admiring citrus trees in local nurseries. Sometimes they just have to come home with me.

We have a lemon and orange which were in the garden when we moved in. Now we also have a tangelo and a meyer lemon in pots, a meiwa kumkuat (latest addition - see it here), and a kaffir lime.

Interestingly, although the kaffir lime does have fruit -- which looks like regular limes but bumpy -- it's the leaves that are most often used in cooking.

They are tough, like bay leaves, so I prefer not to actually eat them. But they do impart a spritely citrus note to the foods they're cooked with.

I have found that they combine well with sweet potatoes. The mild citrus and floral notes of the lime leaves lighten the earthiness of the sweet potatoes, and also cut some of their innate sweetness. Altogether a successful dish.

If you don't have a kaffir lime, skip the leaves and use the juice of a regular lime. It will still be a good dish, just less floral. (The leaves of a regular lime tree just smell of leaves, so don't bother using them.)

I keep roasted poblanos in the freezer, easy to whip out and add to a dish like this. If you don't have a stash of your own, you can remedy that next fall. In the meantime, you should be able to find them year round at Mexican markets.

Sweet Potatoes with Kaffir Lime Leaves
2 sweet potatoes (roughly 1 1/2 lbs total)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
juice of 1/2 lime
sprinkle of hot pepper flakes
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves
1 poblano chile
1 tbsp fresh cilantro (optional)

Scrub the sweet potatoes, but don't peel them. Chop into 1-inch chunks. Toss the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet with the oil, 2 tsp lime juice, a sprinkling of salt, and the hot pepper flakes. Tear the lime leaves and scatter over top. (The potatoes should be in a single layer.)

Roast in a 375° oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roast, peel and seed the poblano. (Click here for instructions.)

Add the poblano to the sweet potatoes and cook another 15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender and lightly browned. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Remove the tough stems from the kaffir lime leaves and slice the leaves into thin shreds. Toss the potatoes with the lime leaves, cilantro, salt and lime juice to taste.

The leaves are edible, but a little goes a long way, so let your guests know it's fine to leave them on the side of the plate.

Serves 2

Three Years Today!

Three years ago today, I launched this blog.

The first post was about the benefits of starting the day with fresh fruit, especially grapefruits in the winter because of their stress-busting and immune-boosting benefits. (You can read it here.)

I started writing because I was frustrated that my clients were depending on pills not food to get their daily nutrition. "Eating real food can be simple," I wanted to shout from the roof tops. "Plus it's the most important thing you can do for your health."

It didn't occur to me that three years later I'd still have things to write about.

But I do.

And I thank you for tuning in to read them.

I hope my endless enthusiasm for vegetables and whole grains and beans inspires you to add more of them into your daily life.

Because while Turbo Tonic (and other supplements) is a fine addition to a diet, the actual food we eat is the primary contributor to our health.

Watercress and Tangerine Salad

The watercress is flourishing on our patio. The banana plant collapsed in the icy weather, the bird baths froze over, and the watercress kept on growing.

It will die out in the heat of summer, but for now we have spicy homegrown greens for our salads.

The other night I tossed some watercress with a tangerine for a great combination of heat and sweet.

Watercress and Tangerine Salad
6 almonds
1 tangerine
2 cups watercress
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
salt

Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Toss with salt and let cool.

Peel and section the tangerine.

Rinse and dry the watercress. Remove any thick stems.

Combine the almonds, tangerine and watercress. Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice. Add to the salad and toss gently. Season to taste.

Serves 2

The hummingbird was unamused when the fountain froze over.
The watercress seemed to enjoy the frosty weather.

Purple Mustard Greens

Purple mustard greens are back at the Hollywood Farmers Market!

I don't know what it is about these greens, but just the sight of them makes me happy.

(Mustard greens are a cruciferous vegetable, and so have the the anti-cancer benefits of this whole group of cabbage-like veg. But I think it's the purple color that makes me smile.)

I cooked up a big bunch of them the other night. It always amazes me how a big pot of greens shrinks down to almost nothing.

I sautéed half an onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until tender. I stirred in a few chile flakes, and then added the chopped mustard greens, still damp from the water I washed them in. I sprinkled some salt over the top, and then stirred the greens top to bottom to make sure all the leaves were covered with oil and salt which helps them wilt down more quickly.

I covered the pot and let them cook, stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes until they were very soft and tender. I turned off the heat and let them sit until the rest of the meal was cooked.

They were a great addition to a meal of farro and butternut squash, Mexican beans, fried cipollini onions, and a celeriac and beet salad.

Simple Carrot Salad

I think I'm very observant as I power through the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday mornings. But it turns out I miss a lot.

I've been buying apples regularly from Ha's Apple Farm at the south end of the market - he's had varieties I've never heard of, all of which have been delicious.

Last week I was buying apples, and I noticed a bottle of apple cider vinegar. I asked if that was new, and he assured me that no, he's been making and selling it for a long time. I just never noticed it before.

Of course I bought a bottle. Larry drinks apple cider vinegar every morning (you can see his post about it here) and I thought it would be nice to have vinegar made by someone we know.

Then I was inspired to make this simple carrot salad of grated carrots tossed with apple cider vinegar. It's so simple I'm almost embarrassed to describe it. But it tastes good, so I encourage you to try it too. So often carrot salads have mayonnaise and/or capers. This version has a cleaner taste, and the vinegar encourages digestion so it's a good addition to any meal.

The mild acidity of the vinegar enhanced the sweetness of the carrots, plus it kept them bright orange for a few days. I was able to put a large spoonful on the salads I packed for our lunches. (I like anything that makes that morning salad-making easier.)

Simple Carrot Salad
1/2 lb (3-4) carrots
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp salt

Grate the carrots. Toss with vinegar and salt. Taste and add more vinegar or salt to taste.

Serves 2-4